Bad investment

While naturally the users of Bebo are concerned that their precious data, photos and memories may all be lost when the site shuts down, spare a thought for the AOL shareholders…

AOL, which bought Bebo for US$850 million (NZ$1.2 billion) in 2008, shut down Bebo’s Australian and New Zealand operations in November as part of a global cost-cutting drive. It is understood four jobs in Australia were lost.
AOL Ventures executive vice-president Jon Brod told staff in an email that it was evaluating options for Bebo, “which could include a sale or shutdown in 2010.
“Bebo, unfortunately, is a business that has been declining and, as a result, would require significant investment to compete in the competitive social networking space.”